Pandemics in History
& the Status of the Global
and National Pandemics
with
Dr. Michael Worobey

ONLINE CONFERENCE EVENT
17 September, 2020 5pm - Zoom Online Service
Registration Closed
The 1918-19 Spanish flu epidemic killed more than 50 million around the globe. Given the century of medical progress since then, one might conclude that we are far better prepared today to deal with such a worldwide catastrophe. Unfortunately, the opposite is true.
The novel coronavirus has spread widely around the world, overwhelming health-care systems and infecting millions. But fatigue with stay-at-home orders and the consequences of a sudden freeze in economic activity have brought diminished focus on the human cost of the disease. Even worse, impatience has reinforced a widespread misconception that saving fewer lives will be worth it if economic activity is restored quickly. Pandemic economics does not work that way and neither can pandemic responses. Only saving lives will save livelihoods and enable an economic recovery.
To assess these dilemmas and how both the 1918 and current global pandemics unfolded we are fortunate to have an expert with broad expertise ranging from a historical grasp of pandemics, the current pandemics impact globally, nationally, and in the greater Tucson community. We Welcome Dr. Michael Worobey to our first Zoom program.
Michael Worobey, PhD, is head of the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the UArizona College of Science, which he joined in 2003. He received his doctorate from the Department of Zoology at the University of Oxford in 2001. He uses the genomes of viruses to trace the evolution of major communicable diseases and to understand their origins, emergence and control. Dr. Worobey has made seminal discoveries pinpointing where, when and how HIV originated and spread worldwide, and how influenza pandemics like the 1918 Spanish flu and the 2009 H1N1 influenza virus emerged and killed large numbers of people. His work is regularly published in Nature and Science, gets frequent worldwide press coverage, and is the focus of several books and documentary films (e.g., “Spillover,” “Tinderbox,” “Rise of the Killer Virus”). He is a Rhodes Scholar, Packard Fellow and National Academy of Sciences Kavli Fellow, and he the holds the University of Arizona’s Louise Foucar Marshall Science Research Professorship.
Zoom Event
Online conference details will be shared with registered participants shortly before the event.